Search results for: speech acts

Authors: D. Avnieli

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Immunity of judges from liability represents a departure from the principle that all are equal under the law, and that victims may be granted compensation from their offenders. The purpose of the study is to determine if judicial immunity coincides with the need to ensure the existence of highly independent and incorruptible judiciary. Judges are immune from civil and criminal liability for their judicial acts. Judicial immunity is justified by the need to maintain complete independence and discretion of the judiciary. Scholars and judges believe that absolute immunity is needed to shield judges from pressures, threats, or outside interference. It is commonly accepted, that judges should be free to perform their judicial role in accordance with their assessment of the fact and their understanding of the law, without any restrictions, influences, inducements or interferences. In most countries, immunity applies when judges act in excess of jurisdiction. In some countries, it applies even when they act maliciously or corruptly. The only exception to absolute immunity applicable in all judicial systems is when judges act without jurisdiction over the subject matter. The Israeli Supreme Court recently decided to embrace absolute immunity and strike off a lawsuit of a refugee, who was unlawfully incarcerated. The Court ruled that the plaintiff cannot sue the State or the judge for damages. The questions of malice, dignity, and public scrutiny were not discussed. This paper, based on comparative analysis of many cases, aims to determine if immunity affects the dignity and behavior of judges. It demonstrates that most judges maintain their dignity and ethical code of behavior, but sometimes do not hesitate to act consciously in excess of jurisdiction, and in rare cases even corruptly. Therefore, in order to maintain independent and incorruptible judiciary, immunity should not be applied where judges act consciously in excess of jurisdiction or with malicious incentives.

Keywords: incorruptible judiciary, immunity, independent, judicial, judges, jurisdiction

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Authors: Dolapo Adeyemo

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Technology can be designed specifically for geriatrics and persons with disabilities or ICT accessibility solutions. Both solutions stand to benefit from advances in Artificial intelligence, which are computer systems that perform tasks that require human intelligence. Tasks such as decision making, visual perception, speech recognition, and even language translation are useful in both situation and will provide significant benefits to people with temporarily or permanent disabilities. This research’s goal is to review innovations focused on the use of artificial intelligence that bridges the accessibility gap in technology from a user-centered perspective. A mixed method approach that utilized a comprehensive review of academic literature on the subject combined with semi structure interviews of users, developers, and technology product owners. The internet of things and artificial intelligence technology is creating new opportunities in the assistive technology space and proving accessibility to existing technology. Device now more adaptable to the needs of the user by learning the behavior of users as they interact with the internet. Accessibility to devices have witnessed significant enhancements that continue to benefit people with disabilities. Examples of other advances identified are prosthetic limbs like robotic arms supported by artificial intelligence, route planning software for the visually impaired, and decision support tools for people with disabilities and even clinicians that provide care.

Keywords: ICT, IOT, accessibility solutions, universal design

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Authors: Nidhi S. Chandra, Veena Agrawal, Debprasad Chattopadhyay

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Background: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major cause of acute viral hepatitis in developing countries. It spreads feco orally mainly due to contamination of drinking water by sewage. There is limited data on the genotypic comparison of HEV isolates from sewage water and humans. The aim of this study was to identify genotype and conduct phylogenetic analysis of HEV isolates from sewage water and humans. Materials and Methods: 14 sewage water and 60 serum samples from acute sporadic hepatitis E cases (negative for hepatitis A, B, C) were tested for HEV-RNA by nested polymerase chain reaction (RTnPCR) using primers designed with in RdRp (RNA dependent RNA polymerase) region of open reading frame-1 (ORF-1). Sequencing was done by ABI prism 310. The sequences (343 nucleotides) were compared with each other and were aligned with previously reported HEV sequences obtained from GeneBank, using Clustal W software. A Phylogenetic tree was constructed by using PHYLIP version 3.67 software. Results: HEV-RNA was detected in 49/ 60 (81.67%) serum and 5/14 (35.71%) sewage samples. The sequences obtained from 17 serums and 2 sewage specimens belonged to genotype I with 85% similarity and clustering with previously reported human HEV sequences from India. HEV isolates from human and sewage in North West India are genetically closely related to each other. Conclusion: These finding suggest that sewage acts as reservoir of HEV. Therefore it is important that measures are taken for proper waste disposal and treatment of drinking water to prevent outbreaks and epidemics due to HEV.

Keywords: hepatitis E virus, nested polymerase chain reaction, open reading frame-1, nucleotidies

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Authors: Renae McNair

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Subjective well-being levels were assessed in individuals diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. The current exploratory analysis sought to examine two factors that impact subjective well-being in individuals diagnosed with a chronic health condition. The two factors, resilience, and rumination, were assessed as possible moderators in self-reported levels of subjective well-being were measured. The importance of understanding the psychological state of perceived well-being in an individual diagnosed with an autoimmune disease is important given the impact of the level of subjective well-being on life longevity. In previous research, higher levels of subjective well-being are correlated with longer life longevity, including those individuals who have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Conversely, individuals who report higher levels of negative affect have a shorter length of life longevity. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and a report from the National Health Council, currently, 8-10% of individuals in the United States have been diagnosed with at least one autoimmune disease. Although treatment plans are in place to help manage the physical effects of disease, the psychological state of the person impacts life longevity. Resilience and rumination impact subjective well-being as an outcome in individuals diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Resilience is the ability to adjust or adapt effectively and positively to unfavorable life conditions or events. Resilience acts as a protective factor in life, allowing those who face adversity to successfully adapt, regardless of the health diagnosis. Rumination is the worry or dwelling on the negative aspects of a given situation. Rumination interrupts the adaptive response, leading to a decrease in well-being. The relationship between resilience and subjective well-being were examined correlated with higher levels of resilience and higher levels of self-reported subjective well-being.

Keywords: subjective well-being, rumination, resilience, autoimmune disease

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Authors: Dijana Sulejmanović

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Cognitive-behavioral modification (CBM) is a combination of cognitive and behavioral learning principles to shape and encourage the desired behaviors. A crucial element of cognitive-behavioral modification is that a change the behavior precedes awareness of how it affects others. CBM is oriented toward changing inner speech and learning to control behaviors through self-regulation techniques. It aims to teach individuals how to develop the ability to recognize, monitor and modify their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The review of literature emphasizes the efficiency the CBM approach in the treatment of children's hyperactivity and negative emotions such as anger. The results of earlier research show how impulsive and hyperactive behavior, agitation, and aggression may slow down and block the child from being able to actively monitor and participate in regular classes, resulting in the disruption of the classroom and the teaching process, and the children may feel rejected, isolated and develop long-term poor image of themselves and others. In this article, we will provide how the use of CBM, adapted to child's age, can incorporate measures of cognitive and emotional functioning which can help us to better understand the children’s cognitive processes, their cognitive strengths, and weaknesses, and to identify factors that may influence their behavioral and emotional regulation. Such a comprehensive evaluation can also help identify cognitive and emotional risk factors associated with aggressive behavior, specifically the processes involved in modulating and regulating cognition and emotions.

Keywords: aggressive behavior, cognitive behavioral modification, cognitive behavioral theory, modification

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Authors: David Guillermo Piedrahita Marquez, Hector Suarez Mahecha, Jairo Humberto Lopez

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There is a need to preserve aquaculture matrices due to their high nutritional value, and its broad consumption, one of those species is the white cachama (Piaractus brachypomus), this fish is located in the rivers of eastern Colombia, and the previously mentioned species needs more study. Therefore, in a paper the effects of an alternative method of preservation of shell life were investigated, the method used is the application of an edible coating made from chitosan and ethanolic extract of propolis (EEP) encapsulated in maltodextrin. The coating was applied by immersion, and after that, we investigated the post mortem quality changes of the fish performing physicochemical and microbiological analysis. pH, volatile bases, test thiobarbituric acid and peroxide value were tested; finally, we studied the effect of the coating on mesophilic strains, coliforms and other microorganisms such as Staphylococcus, and Salmonella. Finally, we concluded that the coating prolongs the shelf life because it acts as a barrier to oxygen and moisture, the bioactive compounds trap free radicals and the coatings changes the metabolism and cause the cell lysis of the microorganisms. It was determined that the concentration of malonaldehyde, the volatile basic nitrogen content and pH are the variables that distinguish more clearly between the samples with the treatment and the control samples.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, lipid oxidation, texture profile analysis (TPA), sensorial analysis, peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid assay (TBA), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N)

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Authors: Mustapha Abdulsalam, R. N. Ahmed

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Nauclea latifolia is one of the medicinal plants used in traditional Nigerian medicine in the treatment of various diseases such as fever, toothaches, malaria, diarrhea among several other conditions. Nauclea latifolia leaf extract acts as a capping and reducing agent in the formation of silver nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized using a combination of aqueous extract of Nauclea latifolia and 1mM of silver nitrate (AgNO₃) solution to obtain concentrations of 100mg/ml-400mg/ml. Characterization of the particles was done by UV-Vis spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). In this study, aqueous as well as ethanolic extract of leaf of Nauclea latifolia were investigated for antibacterial activity using the standard agar well diffusion technique against three clinical isolates (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was achieved by microbroth dilution method and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) was also determined by plate assay. Characterization by UV-visible spectrometry revealed peak absorbance of 0.463 at 450.0nm, while FTIR showed the presence of two functional groups. At 400mg/ml, the highest inhibitory activities were observed with S.aureus and E.coli with zones of inhibition measuring 20mm and 18mm respectively. The MIC was obtained at 400mg/ml while MBC was at a higher concentration. The data from this study indicate the potential of silver nanoparticle of Nauclea latifolia as a suitable alternative antibacterial agent for incorporation into orthodox medicine in health care delivery in Nigeria.

Keywords: agar well diffusion, antimicrobial activity, Nauclea latifolia, silver nanoparticles

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Authors: Donludee Jaisut, Norihisa Kato, Thanutchaporn Kumrungsee, Kiyoshi Kawai, Somkiat Prachayawarakorn, Patchalee Tungtrakul

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Jasmine Rice is a principle food of Thai people. However, glycemic index of jasmine rice is in high level, risk of type II diabetes after consuming. Burdock root is a good source of non-starch polysaccharides such as inulin. Inulin acts as prebiotic and helps reduce blood-sugar level. The purpose of this research was to reduce digestion rate of jasmine rice by coating burdock root extract on rice surface, using top-spay fluidized bed coating technique. Coating experiments were performed by spraying burdock root solution onto Jasmine rice kernels (Khao Dawk Mali-105; KDML), which had an initial moisture content of 11.6% wet basis, suspended in the fluidized bed. The experimental conditions were: solution spray rates of 31.7 mL/min, atomization pressure of 1.5 bar, spray time of 10 min, time of drying after spraying of 30 s, superficial air velocity of 3.2 m/s and drying temperatures of 60°C. The coated rice quality was evaluated in terms of the moisture content, texture, whiteness and digestion rate. The results showed that initial and final moisture contents of samples were the same in concentration 8% (v/v) and 10% (v/v). The texture was insignificantly changed from that of uncoated sample. The whiteness values were varied on concentration of burdock root extract. Coated samples were slower digested.

Keywords: burdock root, digestion, drying, rice

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Authors: Saja M. Nabat Al-Ajrash, Charles Browning, Rose Eckerle, Li Cao, Robyn L. Bradford, Donald Klosterman

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An additive manufacturing process and subsequent pyrolysis cycle were used to fabricate SiC matrix/carbon fiber hybrid composites. The matrix was fabricated using a mixture of preceramic polymer and acrylate monomers, while polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor was used to fabricate fibers via electrospinning. The precursor matrix and reinforcing fibers at 0, 2, 5, or 10 wt% were printed using digital light processing, and both were simultaneously pyrolyzed to yield the final ceramic matrix composite structure. After pyrolysis, XRD and SEAD analysis proved the existence of SiC nanocrystals and turbostratic carbon structure in the matrix, while the reinforcement phase was shown to have a turbostratic carbon structure similar to commercial carbon fibers. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in the air up to 1400 °C was used to evaluate the oxidation resistance of this material. TGA results showed some weight loss due to oxidation of SiC and/or carbon up to about 900 °C, followed by weight gain to about 1200 °C due to the formation of a protective SiO2 layer. Although increasing carbon fiber content negatively impacted the total mass loss for the first heating cycle, exposure of the composite to second-run air revealed negligible weight chance. This is explained by SiO2 layer formation, which acts as a protective film that prevents oxygen diffusion. Oxidation of SiC and the formation of a glassy layer has been proven to protect the sample from further oxidation, as well as provide healing of surface cracks and defects, as revealed by SEM analysis.

Keywords: silicon carbide, carbon fibers, additive manufacturing, composite

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Authors: Abid I. Abu-Tair, Gavin M. Wilde, John M. Kinuthia

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Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) is a functional capability that has been developed to allow the United Kingdom Fire and Rescue Service to deal with ‘major incidents’ primarily involving structural collapse. The nature of the work undertaken by USAR means that staying out of a damaged or collapsed building structure is not usually an option for search and rescue personnel. As a result, there is always a risk that they could become victims. For this paper, a systematic and investigative review using desk research was undertaken to explore the role which structural engineering can play in assisting search and rescue personnel to conduct structural assessments when in the field. The focus is on how search and rescue personnel can assess damaged and collapsed building structures, not just in terms of the structural damage that may be countered, but also in relation to structural stability. Natural disasters, accidental emergencies, acts of terrorism and other extreme events can vary significantly in nature and ferocity, and can cause a wide variety of damage to building structures. It is not possible or, even realistic, to provide search and rescue personnel with definitive guidelines and procedures to assess damaged and collapsed building structures as there are too many variables to consider. However, understanding what implications damage may have upon the structural stability of a building structure will enable search and rescue personnel to judge better and quantify the risk from a life-safety standpoint. It is intended that this will allow search and rescue personnel to make informed decisions and ensure every effort is made to mitigate risk so that they do not become victims.

Keywords: damaged and collapsed building structures, life safety, quantifying risk, search and rescue personnel, structural assessments in the field

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Authors: Hani Baek, Gwang Min Sun, Chansun Shin, Sung Ho Ahn

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Fast neutron irradiation using nuclear reactors is an effective method to improve switching loss and short circuit durability of power semiconductor (insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) and insulated gate transistors (IGT), etc.). However, not only fast neutrons but also thermal neutrons, epithermal neutrons and gamma exist in the nuclear reactor. And the electrical properties of the IGBT may be deteriorated by the irradiation of gamma. Gamma irradiation damages are known to be caused by Total Ionizing Dose (TID) effect and Single Event Effect (SEE), Displacement Damage. Especially, the TID effect deteriorated the electrical properties such as leakage current and threshold voltage of a power semiconductor. This work can confirm the effect of the gamma irradiation on the electrical properties of 600 V NPT-IGBT. Irradiation of gamma forms lattice defects in the gate oxide and Si-SiO₂ interface of the IGBT. It was confirmed that this lattice defect acts on the center of the trap and affects the threshold voltage, thereby negatively shifted the threshold voltage according to TID. In addition to the change in the carrier mobility, the conductivity modulation decreases in the n-drift region, indicating a negative influence that the forward voltage drop decreases. The turn-off delay time of the device before irradiation was 212 ns. Those of 2.5, 10, 30, 70 and 100 kRad(Si) were 225, 258, 311, 328, and 350 ns, respectively. The gamma irradiation increased the turn-off delay time of the IGBT by approximately 65%, and the switching characteristics deteriorated.

Keywords: NPT-IGBT, gamma irradiation, switching, turn-off delay time, recombination, trap center

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Authors: Amit S. Chauhan, S. Mandal

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The structural response of shear walls subjected to various types of loads is difficult to predict precisely. They are incorporated in buildings to resist lateral forces and support the gravity loads. The steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) are used as lateral load resisting systems for buildings and acts as an alternative to reinforced concrete shear walls (RCSWs). This paper compares the behavior of SPSW with the RCSW incorporated in a building frame having G+6 storey, located in Zone III, using the technique of Equivalent Static Method (ESM) as per Indian Standard Criteria For Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures IS 1893:2002. This paper intends to evaluate several parameters such as lateral displacement at tip, inter-storey drift, weight of steel and volume of concrete with the alteration of the shear wall with respect to different types viz., SPSW and RCSW. The strip model employed in this study is a widely accepted analytical tool for SPSW analysis. SPSW can be modelled as truss members by using a series of diagonal tension strips positioned at 45-degree angles. In this paper, by replacing the SPSWs with the tension strips, the G+6 building has been analyzed using STAAD.Pro V8i. Based on the present study, it can be concluded that structure with SPSWs is much better then structure with RCSWs.

Keywords: equivalent static method, inter-storey drift, lateral displacement, Steel plate shear wall, strip model

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Authors: Andreas Aceranti, Simonetta Vernocchi, Elisabetta Aldrovandi, Marco Colorato, Carolina Ascrizzi

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Nowadays, especially due to an increasing flow of migration and uncontrolled globalisation, linguistic, cultural and religious differences can be a major obstacle for people belonging to different ethnic groups. Each group has its own traditional background, which, in addition to its positive aspects, also includes extremely unpleasant and dramatic situations: culture-related crimes. We analysed several cases belonging to this category of crime which is becoming more and more present in Europe, creating not only a strong social rift dictated by the misunderstanding between migrants and host populations but also by the isolation and ghettoisation of subjects classified as 'different'. Such social rejection, in fact, represents a great source of stress and frustration for those who seek to be part of the community and can generate phenomena of rebellion that result in violent acts. Similar situations must be addressed by the figure of the cultural-linguistic mediator who, thanks to his or her multidisciplinary knowledge, assumes the role of a 'bridge', thus helping the process of awareness and understanding within the social group through the use of various tools, including awareness-raising campaigns and interventions in both the school and social-health sectors. By analysing how the notions of culture and offense have evolved throughout history until they have merged into a single principle and, secondly, how the figure of the language mediator represents a fundamental role in the resolution of conflicts related to cultural diversity has helped us define the basis for new protocols in dealing with such crimes. Especially we have to define the directions of further investigations that we will carry out in the next months.

Keywords: cultural crimes, hatred crimes, immigration, cultural mediation

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Authors: Fang Yao, Minglei Chen

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City shrinkage is one of the thorny problems that many European cities have to face with nowadays. It is mainly expressed as the decrease of population in these cities. Eastern Germany is one of the pioneers of European shrinking cities with long shrinking history. Selecting one representative shrinking city Halle(Saale) in eastern Germany as research objective, collecting and investigating nearly 20 years (1993-2010) municipal data after the reunification of Germany. These data based on five dimensions, which are demographic, economic, social, spatial and environmental and total 16 eligible variables. Using Factor Analysis to dealing with these variables in order to assess the most important factors affecting shrinking Halle. The Factor Analysis shows that there are three main factors determine the shrinkage of Halle, namely demographical and economical factor, social stability factor, and city vitality factor. Three factors acts at different period of Halle’s shrinkage: from 1993 to 1997 the demographical and economical factor played an important role; from 1997 to 2004 the social stability is significant to city shrinkage; since 2005 city vitality factors determines the shrinkage of Halle. In recent years, the shrinkage in Halle mitigates that shows the sign of growing population. Thus the city Halle should focus on attaching more importance on the city vitality factor to prevent the city from shrinkage. Meanwhile, the city should possess a positive perspective that to shift the growth-oriented development to tap the potential of shrinking cities. This method is expected to apply to further research and other shrinking cities.

Keywords: demography, factor analysis, Halle, shrinking cities

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Authors: Emrah Yaliniz, Ali Kalkanli

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ZE41A magnesium alloy has been extensively used in aerospace industry, especially for use in rotorcraft transmission casings. Due to the improved mechanical properties, the latest generation of magnesium casting alloy EV31A-T6 (Elektron 21® specified in AMS 4429) is seen as a potential replacement for ZE41A in terms of strength. Therefore, the necessity of enhancement has been arisen for ZE41A in order to avoid fully replacement. The main element affecting the strength of ZE41A is Zirconium (Zr), which acts as a grain refiner. The specified range of Zr element for ZE41A alloy is between 0.4 wt % and 1.0 wt % (unless otherwise stated by weight percentage after this point) as stated in AMS 4439. This paper investigates the effects of Zr amount on tensile and metallurgical properties of ZE41A magnesium alloy. The Zr alloying amount for the research has been chosen as 0.5 % and 1 %, which are standard amounts in a commercial alloy (average of 0.4-0.6%) and maximum percent in the standard, separately. 1 % Zr amount has been achieved via Zirmax (66.7 Mg-33.3 Zr) master alloy addition. The ultimate tensile strength of ZE41A with 1% Zr has been increased up to about 220-225 MPa in comparison to 200 MPa given in AMS 4439. The reason for the increase in strength with the addition of Zirmax is based on the decrease in grain size, which was measured about 30 µm. Optical microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) were used to detect the change in the microstructural futures via alloying. The zirconium rich coring at the center of the grains was observed in addition to the grain boundary intermetallic phases and bulk Mg-rich matrix. The solidification characteristics were also identified by using the cooling curve obtained from the sand casting mold during cooling of the alloys.

Keywords: aerospace, grain refinement, magnesium, sand casting, ZE41A

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Authors: Nayer Fardows, Zarash Nayer, Sarah Nayer Jaffar, Daud Nayer

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This paper analyses the issues related to communal properties of minorities in the cantonment area of Pakistan allotted in the mid-eighteenth centuries by the British Government to facilitate soldiers. These properties were old grants on which churches, institutes, hospitals, and residences were built. The ownership of these properties remained with British Government, but after the creation of Pakistan, changes by putting Government of Pakistan as the landlord of the property disturbed the inheritors as they remained as, holder of occupancy. The government of Pakistan issued a policy in 1997 to convert the status of old grant properties to regular lease. However, heavy taxes and high court’s decisions made it difficult to solve the issue. The study was conducted on six old grant properties of Edwardes College Peshawar cantonment situated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The paper is descriptive research with a qualitative approach collecting data through government rules, acts, ordinance and decisions of the high courts. The result leads to three aspects; 1) holder of occupancy status of old grant properties in cantonment is similar as allotment of other properties by the government, 2) imposition of heavy taxes on conversion of property from old grant to regular lease restricted inheritors to further construct or transfer, 3) imposition of higher courts ban on conversion of communal properties contradict government policy of conversion. The paper recommends the Government of Pakistan a solution to maintain the status quo for communal properties that fall within the old grant.

Keywords: British Government, communal properties, cantonment, old grant, institutions

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Authors: Hunmin Jung, Michael Hawkins, Seongmin Lee

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The exocyclic amines of nucleobases can undergo deamination by various DNA damaging agents such as reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide, and water. The deamination of guanine and adenine generates the promutagenic xanthine and hypoxanthine, respectively. The exocyclic amines of bases in DNA are hydrogen bond donors, while the carbonyl moiety generated by the base deamination acts as hydrogen bond acceptors, which can alter base pairing properties of the purines. Xanthine is known to base pair with both cytosine and thymine, while hypoxanthine predominantly pairs with cytosine to promote A to G mutations. Despite the known promutagenicity of the major deaminated purines, structures of DNA polymerase bypassing these lesions have not been reported. To gain insights into the deaminated-induced mutagenesis, we solved crystal structures of human DNA polymerase η (polη) catalyzing across xanthine and hypoxanthine. In the catalytic site of polη, the deaminated guanine (i.e., xanthine) forms three Watson-Crick-like hydrogen bonds with an incoming dCTP, indicating the O2-enol tautomer of xanthine involves in the base pairing. The formation of the enol tautomer appears to be promoted by the minor groove contact by Gln38 of polη. When hypoxanthine is at the templating position, the deaminated adenine uses its O6-keto tautomer to form two Watson-Crick hydrogen bonds with an incoming dCTP, providing the structural basis for the high promutagenicity of hypoxanthine.

Keywords: DNA damage, DNA polymerase, deamination, mutagenesis, tautomerization, translesion synthesis

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Authors: Shanko Chura Aredo, Hailu Jeldie Wodajo, Muktar Jeylan, Kedir Ilka, Abdulnasir Husein

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Toll-free numbers are calling numbers that have unique three or four digit numbers and that don’t require payment from phone lines in order to be called. With the help of these numbers, callers can connect with nearby organizations and/or people without incurring far-reaching fees. Calls to assistance centers are especially popular from toll-free phones. In the past, toll-free services have offered prospective clients and other parties a simple and cost-free means of getting in touch with enterprises. Nevertheless, unless they have an ”unlimited calling” plan, wireless subscribers will be billed for the airtime minutes used during a toll-free call. In Adama, the second largest city in Ethiopia, a call center has been installed as part of smart security system and serving since January 2023 for collection of complaints from different community levels. The call center is situated at the mayor office and has 11 active workers, 4 of these working the night time and the remaining during day time. The information reported in the form of complaints from individuals and groups are illegal constructions, illegal trade, income concealment or hiding, giving and receiving bribe, informing new faces of suspected enemies and exposing individual or group conflicts. This technology has been found to bring a significant outcome in minimizing illegal acts, public safety threats and service delivery problems.

Keywords: smart, safety, crime, call center, security

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Authors: Sandy J. M. Balla, Jerry J. Walker, Isaac K. Kyere

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The heat transfer coefficient at the soil–air interface is important in calculating underground cable ampacity when convection occurs. Calculating the heat transfer coefficient accurately is complex because of the temperature variations at the earth's surface. This paper presents the effect of convection heat flow across the ground surface on the rating of three single-core, 132kV, XLPE cables buried underground. The Finite element method (FEM) is a numerical analysis technique used to determine the cable rating of buried cables under installation conditions that are difficult to support when using the analytical method. This study demonstrates the use of FEM to investigate the effect of convection on the rating ofburied cables in flat formation using QuickField finite element simulation software. As a result, developing a model to simulate this type of situation necessitates important considerations such as the following boundary conditions: burial depth, soil thermal resistivity, and soil temperature, which play an important role in the simulation's accuracy and reliability. The results show that when the ground surface is taken as a convection interface, the conductor temperature rises and may exceed the maximum permissible temperature when rated current flows. This is because the ground surface acts as a convection interface between the soil and the air (fluid). This result correlates and is compared with the rating obtained using the IEC60287 analytical method, which is based on the condition that the ground surface is an isotherm.

Keywords: finite element method, convection, buried cables, steady-state rating

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Authors: McKenzie S. Braley, Lesley Jessiman

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If language reveals internal psychological processing, then it is also likely that language use in autobiographical memory transcripts may be used as a window into attachment style and related personality features. The current study, therefore, examined the possible associations between attachment style, negative affectivity, social inhibition, and linguistic features extracted from autobiographical memory transcripts. Young adult participants (n = 61) filled out attachment and personality questionnaires, and orally reported a relationship-related memory. Memories were audio-recorded and later transcribed verbatim. Using a computerized linguistic extraction tool, positive affect words, negative affect words, and cognition words were extracted. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients revealed that attachment anxiety was negatively correlated with cognition words (r2 = -0.26, p = 0.047) and that negative affectivity was negatively correlated with positive affect words (r2 = -0.32, p = 0.012). The findings suggest that attachment style and personality are associated with speech styles indicative of both emotionality and depth of processing. Because attachment styles, negative affectivity, and social inhibition are associated with poor mental health outcomes, analyses of key linguistics features in autobiographical memory narratives may provide reliable screening tools for mental wellbeing.

Keywords: attachment style, autobiographical memory, language, negative affectivity, social inhibition

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Authors: S. Shanthi

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Catalyzed oxidation processes show extraordinary guarantee for application in numerous wastewater treatment ranges. Advanced oxidation processes are emerging innovation that might be utilized for particular objectives in wastewater treatment. This research work provides a solution for removal a refractory organic compound 2,4-dichlorophenoxyaceticacid a common water pollutant. All studies were done in batch mode in a constantly stirred reactor. Alternative ozonation processes catalysed by transition metals or granular activated carbon have been investigated for degradation of organics. Catalytic ozonation under study are homogeneous catalytic ozonation, which is based on ozone activation by transition metal ions present in aqueous solution, and secondly as heterogeneous catalytic ozonation in the presence of Granular Activated Carbon (GAC). The present studies reveal that heterogeneous catalytic ozonation using GAC favour the ozonation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyaceticacid by increasing the rate of ozonation and a much higher degradation of substrates were obtained in a given time. Be that it may, Fe2+and Fe3+ ions decreased the rate of degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyaceticacid indicating that it acts as a negative catalyst. In case of heterogeneous catalytic ozonation using GAC catalyst it was found that during the initial 5 minutes of contact solution concentration decreased significantly as the pollutants were adsorbed initially. Thereafter the substrate started getting oxidized and ozonation became a dominates the treatment process. The exhausted GAC was found to be regenerated in situ. The percentage reduction of the substrate was maximum achieved in minimum possible time when GAC catalyst is employed.

Keywords: ozonation, homogeneous catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, granular activated carbon

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Authors: Meenu Kaushik, Ayon K. Bandhoyadhayay, Lalit M. Joshi

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Inductive output tubes (IOTs) are widely used as microwave power amplifiers for broadcast and scientific applications. It is capable of amplifying radio frequency (RF) power with very good efficiency. Its compactness, reliability, high efficiency, high linearity and low operating cost make this device suitable for various applications. The device consists of an integrated structure of electron gun and RF cavity, collector and focusing structure. The working principle of IOT is a combination of triode and klystron. The cathode lies in the electron gun produces a stream of electrons. A control grid is placed in close proximity to the cathode. Basically, the input part of IOT is the integrated structure of gridded electron gun which acts as an input cavity thereby providing the interaction gap where the input RF signal is applied to make it interact with the produced electron beam for supporting the amplification phenomena. The paper presents the design, fabrication and testing of a radial re-entrant cavity for implementing in the input structure of IOT at 350 MHz operating frequency. The model’s suitability has been discussed and a generalized mathematical relation has been introduced for getting the proper transverse magnetic (TM) resonating mode in the radial narrow gap RF cavities. The structural modeling has been carried out in CST and SUPERFISH codes. The cavity is fabricated with the Aluminum material and the RF characterization is done using vector network analyzer (VNA) and the results are presented for the resonant frequency peaks obtained in VNA.

Keywords: inductive output tubes, IOT, radial cavity, coaxial cavity, particle accelerators

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Authors: Michael Fusi Ligaliga

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Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS), despite being a new pedagogical discipline, is a growing interdisciplinary academic field that has expanded its presence from the traditional lens of war, conflict, and violence to addressing various social issues impacting society. Family and domestic violence (FDV) has seldom been explored through the PACS lens despite some studies showing that “on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Over one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.” In the Pacific, FDV rates are some of the highest in the world. The friction caused by cultural practices reinforcing patriarchy and male impunity, compounded by historical colonial experiences, as well as the impact of Christianity on the Pacific region, creates a complex social landscape when thinking about and addressing FDV in the Pacific. This paper seeks to re-examine Johan Galtung’s violence triangle (GVT) theory and its application to understanding FDV in the Pacific. Galtung argues that there are three forms of violence – direct, structural, and cultural. Direct violence (DV) is behaviors that threaten life itself or diminishes the ability of a person to meet his or her basic needs. This form of violence is visible because it is manifested in behaviors such as killing, maiming, sexual assault, etc. Structural violence (SV) exists when people do not get equal access to goods and services (health, education, justice) that enable them to reach their full potential. When ideologies embedded in cultural norms and practices are used to justify and advocate acts of violence by shifting the moral parameters from being wrong to right or acceptable, this, according to Galtung, is referred to as Cultural violence (CV).

Keywords: direct violence, cultural violence, structural violence, indigenous peacebuilding, samoa

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Authors: Dorota Habrat

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In Polish law, the idea of the introduction of corporate responsibility for crimes is becoming more popular and creates a lot of questions. The need to introduce into the Polish legal system liability of corporate (collective entities) has resulted, among others, from the Polish Republic's international commitments, in particular related to membership in the European Union. The Act of 28 October 2002 on the liability of collective entities for acts prohibited under penalty is one of the example of adaptation of Polish law to Community law. Introduction to Polish law a criminal nature liability of corporations (legal persons) has resulted in a lot of controversy and lack of acceptance from both the scientific community as well as the judiciary. The responsibility of collective entities under the Act has a criminal nature. The main question concerns the ability of the collective entity to be brought to guilt under criminal law sense. Polish criminal law knows only the responsibility of individual persons. So far, guilt as a personal feature of action, based on the ability of the offender to feel in his psyche, could be considered only in relation to the individual person, while the said Act destroyed this conviction. Guilt of collective entity must be proven under at least one of the three possible forms: the guilt in the selection or supervision and so called organizational guilt. The next question is how the principle of proportionality in relation to criminal measures in response of collective entities should be considered. It should be remembered that the legal subjectivity of collective entities, including their rights and freedoms, is an emanation of the rights and freedoms of individual persons which create collective entities and through these entities implement their rights and freedoms. The adopted Act largely reflects the international legal regulations but also contains the unknown and original legislative solutions.

Keywords: criminal corporate responsibility, Polish criminal law, legislative solutions, Act of 28 October 2002

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Authors: Erizal Lugman

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An increasing number of students from Indonesia study in universities in the UK. Because of the substantial cultural differences between the Western and Indonesian cultures, this study investigates the issues in academic and social life experienced by Indonesian postgraduate students, with a sample of 11 Indonesian postgraduate students (8 male, 3 female) studying in London during the cultural adjustment stage. This research made use of a semi-structured interview and was analyzed qualitatively using thematic content analysis to reveal key areas of concern in the academic setting, social life, and language-related issues. The findings confirm that the most challenging aspects experienced by the participants are the use of academic English in academic situations and the students’ lack of critical thinking. Nine out of 11 students agreed that they had problems with writing essays during the cultural adjustment stage. Because of the collectivist culture in Indonesia, making friends with locals was the most concerning issue in the participants’ sociocultural adjustment, followed by difficulty in finding places to pray, looking for Halal food and using the Western toilet system The findings suggest recommendations that the students must be more aware of the cultural differences between Indonesian and Western cultures, including in the academic setting and social life. Also, the lecturers should pay more attention to their speech in the British accent which is sometimes difficult to understand.

Keywords: academic adjustment, cultural adjustment, indonesian culture, intercultural communication

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Authors: Omar Farshad Jeelani, Makaire Njie, Viktoriia M. Korzhuk

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Recently, the application of AI-powered algorithms in healthcare continues to flourish. Particularly, access to healthcare information, including patient health history, diagnostic data, and PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is paramount in the delivery of efficient patient outcomes. However, as the exchange of healthcare information between patients and healthcare providers through AI-powered solutions increases, protecting a person’s information and their privacy has become even more important. Arguably, the increased adoption of healthcare AI has resulted in a significant concentration on the security risks and protection measures to the security and privacy of healthcare data, leading to escalated analyses and enforcement. Since these challenges are brought by the use of AI-based healthcare solutions to manage healthcare data, AI-based data protection measures are used to resolve the underlying problems. Consequently, this project proposes AI-powered safeguards and policies/laws to protect the privacy of healthcare data. The project presents the best-in-school techniques used to preserve the data privacy of AI-powered healthcare applications. Popular privacy-protecting methods like Federated learning, cryptographic techniques, differential privacy methods, and hybrid methods are discussed together with potential cyber threats, data security concerns, and prospects. Also, the project discusses some of the relevant data security acts/laws that govern the collection, storage, and processing of healthcare data to guarantee owners’ privacy is preserved. This inquiry discusses various gaps and uncertainties associated with healthcare AI data collection procedures and identifies potential correction/mitigation measures.

Keywords: data privacy, artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare AI, data sharing, healthcare organizations (HCOs)

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Authors: R. Kanthavel, R. Yogesh Kumar, T. Narendrakumar, B. Santhosh, S. Surya Prakash

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This paper primarily focuses on developing an affordable personal assistant and the implementation of it in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create a virtual assistant/friend. The problem in existing home automation techniques is that it requires the usage of exact command words present in the database to execute the corresponding task. Our proposed work is ATOM a.k.a ‘Artificial intelligence Talking Omnipresent Machine’. Our inspiration came from an unlikely source- the movie ‘Iron Man’ in which a character called J.A.R.V.I.S has omnipresence, and device controlling capability. This device can control household devices in real time and send the live information to the user. This device does not require the user to utter the exact commands specified in the database as it can capture the keywords from the uttered commands, correlates the obtained keywords and perform the specified task. This ability to compare and correlate the keywords gives the user the liberty to give commands which are not necessarily the exact words provided in the database. The proposed work has a higher flexibility (due to its keyword extracting ability from the user input) comparing to the existing work Intelligent Home automation System (IHAS), is more accurate, and is much more affordable as it makes use of WI-FI module and raspberry pi 2 instead of ZigBee and a computer respectively.

Keywords: home automation, speech recognition, voice control, personal assistant, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Diba Arjmandi

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The notion of power and gender domination is one of the inseparable aspects of themes in postmodern literature. The reason of its importance has been discussed frequently since the rise of Michel Foucault and his vantage point toward the circulation of power and the transgression of forces. The language and society act as the basic grounds for the study, as all human beings are bound to the set of rules and norms which shape them in the acceptable way in the macrocosm. How different genders in different positions behave and show reactions to the provocation of social forces and superiority of one another, is of great interest to writers and literary critics. Mamet’s works are noticeable for their controversial but timely themes which illustrate the human conflict with the community and greed for power. Many critics like Christopher Bigsby and Harold Bloom have been discussing Mamet and his ideas during recent years. This paper is the study of Oleanna, Mamet’s masterpiece about teacher-student relationship and the circulation of power between a man and woman. He shows the very breakable boundaries in domination of a gender and the downfall of speech as the consequence of transgression and freedom. The failure of the language the teacher uses and the abuses of his own words by a student who seeks superiority and knowledge are the main subjects of discussion. Supported by the ideas of Foucault, the language Mamet uses to represent his characters becomes the fundamental element of this survey. As a result, language becomes both the means of achievement and also downfall.

Keywords: domination, foucault, language, mamet, oleanna, power, transgression

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Authors: Zamri Abu Bakar Zamri, Normaly Kamal Ismail Normaly, Mohd Izani Mohamed Rawi Izani

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Malay noun compound are phrases that consist of two or more nouns. The key characteristic behind noun compounds lies on its frequent occurrences within the text. Therefore, extracting these noun compounds is essential for several domains of research such as Information Retrieval, Sentiment Analysis and Question Answering. Many research efforts have been proposed in terms of extracting Malay noun compounds using linguistic and statistical approaches. Most of the existing methods have concentrated on the extraction of bi-gram noun+noun compound. However, extracting noun+verb, noun+adjective and noun+prepositional is challenging due to the difficulty of selecting an appropriate method with effective results. Thus, there is still room for improvement in terms of enhancing the effectiveness of compound word extraction. Therefore, this study proposed a combination of linguistic approach and statistical measures in order to enhance the extraction of compound words. Several preprocessing steps are involved including normalization, tokenization, and stemming. The linguistic approach that has been used in this study is Part-of-Speech (POS) tagging. In addition, a new linguistic pattern for named entities has been utilized using a list of Malays named entities in order to enhance the linguistic approach in terms of noun compound recognition. The proposed statistical measures consists of NC-value, NTC-value and NLC value.

Keywords: Compound Word, Noun Compound, Linguistic Approach, Statistical Approach

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Authors: Yaroslav Alexandrovich Levin

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In modern research on the history of the United States in World War II, it is quite popular to study the opposition of the American special services and, in particular, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to various organizations of the German diasporas in new historical conditions. The appeal to traditional methods of historical research, comparative studies, and the principles of historicism will make it possible to more accurately trace the process of tightening the counterintelligence work of the Bureau and the close connection of concerns about the involvement of public organizations in the intelligence activities of the enemy. The broadcast of nationalist ideas by various communities of Germans under the auspices of their governments quickly attracted the attention of the FBI, which is in the process of consolidating its powers as the main US counterintelligence service. At the same time, the investigations and trials conducted by the John Edgar Hoover Department following these investigations often had an openly political color and increasingly consolidated the beginning of a political investigation in this service. This practice and its implementation ran into a tough contradiction between the legal norms of America, which proclaimed "democratic values," the right to freedom of speech, and the need to strengthen the internal security of the state and society in wartime. All these processes and the associated nuances and complexities are considered in specific examples of the work of federal agents against various pro-German organizations in the period 1941-45.

Keywords: World War II, internal security, countering extremism, counterintelligence, political investigation, FBI

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